In a healthcare environment, the responsibilities of a clinician (e.g., nurse) are often defined before the clinician begins to work a designated shift. For example, when working, a nurse is often assigned as either a primary caregiver or a secondary caregiver of a group of patients, and this group of patients is determined prior to beginning the designated shift.
However, typically these assignments are manually determined and made independently of relevant information (e.g., electronic scheduling system). For example, once a paper assignment sheet is manually filled out (e.g., by a nurse manager) to specify patient-caregiver assignments, the assignments must be manually entered into other healthcare electronic systems. In addition, when created independently of other systems, the assignments are made without access to relevant information (e.g., how much time is required to provide care to a patient).